A field of 9 older horses went to post in the $2 million TwinSpires Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1), a 6 furlong trip around one turn of the main track. A.G. Vanderbilt (G1) and Vosburgh (G1) winner Imperial Hint was sent off as the 8-5 favorite. In to challenge him included defending champion and 11-4 second choice Roy H, 2nd in the Bing Crosby (G1) before winning the Santa Anita Sprint Championship (G1), and 9-2 third choice Promises Fulfilled, winner of the Amsterdam (G3), Allen Jerkens (G1) and Phoenix (G2).

Roy H leads down the stretch

Jockey Luis Saez sent Promises Fulfilled to the lead down the backstretch through an opening quarter of 21.35 pressd by 38-1 Distinctive B and stalked by 52-1 Always Sunshine before jockey Paco Lopez sent Roy H 4 wide to lead on the turn through a half in 44.21. Into the lane he opened up by 3 lengths through 5f in 55.81, and cruised the rest of the way to a 3 1/4 length win over late-running 7-1 Whitmore to repeat as the champion in 1:08.24. It was another 1 3/4 length back to favorite Imperial Hint third.

Left: Roy H in the winner's circle. He joins Midnight Lute (2007-08) as the only repeat winners of the Sprint. Winning trainer Peter Miller, the first trainer to saddle back to back winners of the same 2 Breeders' Cup races said, "He's really training good and doing good. I just can't say enough about this horse. Paco Lopez gave him a great ride. Just unbelievable. I can't believe it. Too good
to be true. Words don't express how special this is – to win the same race with the same horse back to back. It's just fantastic."

Right: The trophy presentation for the Sprint. Winning co-owner David Bernsen said, "It's pretty amazing to have done at Del Mar, which is sort of my home track, and then to come out to Churchill, this place, and pull the same thing off. It
sort of capped a very tumultuous year, for Peter, especially (after the wildfires last fall)."

Left: Roy H in the post parade. Winning jockey Paco Lopez, celebrating his first Breeders' Cup victory said, "I loved my position early. I let him go a little early and he started a big move. I knew they were going fast up front. I just had a really good ride from
him."

Right: Roy H heads back to the barn after the race. Miller added, "I think people were writing him off, and someone, one of the East Coast writers called me and says, you know, Imperial Hint is a different horse this year, and they were trying to scare me or something, said he's the hype horse. I said, well, the East Coast horses get the hype and the West Coast horses get the money. So you guys can hype all you want out here, we'll take the money with us. We're fortunate that we've had the right horses to ship across country and across the world to run with. And this horse, he instills so much confidence. He just does everything so easy."

Left: Second place finisher Whitmore in the post parade. Trainee Ron Moquett said, "It was a good race, fast horses. He did everything I asked him to do. I thought the jock rode him great and I am proud. The winner is a fast horse and today was his day." Jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. added, "My horse settled in the back easily and when I asked him for run on the far turn, he responded nicely. I thought I had a chance to catch the winner in the stretch, but he still ran a good race. I was very happy with his effort."

Right: Third place finisher and beaten favorite Imperial Hint returns after the race. Trainer Luis Carvajal said, "The horse ran a magnificent race. Before we had a doubt if he liked the track or not. He seemed like he handled it well in the morning. He ran well and I’m proud of him, but it seems like he doesn’t handle Churchill Downs’ track very well." Jockey Javier Castellano added, "He’s the kind of horse that can go to the lead, but today there was a lot of speed, so I took him off the pace. He didn’t give me his kick today. He ran twice before on this track and didn’t like it. He proved today that he doesn’t like this track."

Breeders' Cup Weather - Check out the latest weather forecasts for the Breeders' Cup at Churchill Downs. Looks rainy and cold right now.

Review: Crushing the Cup 2018 - by Jim Mazur and Peter Mallett. An invaluable tool for trying to unlock the mysteries of handicapping the Breeders' Cup races at Churchill Downs. Updated for 2018, this is their 27th anniversary edition and seventh for Churchill Downs.

2017 Breeders' Cup Wrap Up - Records set, statistics, first-time winning jockeys and trainers, how previous winners finished, and more for the 34th running of the Breeders' Cup at Del Mar.

2017 Breeders' Cup Friday - There were four Breeders' Cup races on Friday at Del Mar headlined by the Distaff (G1) where Forever Unbridled held off Abel Tasman to win by a half length. Also on the card, Rushing Fall won the Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1), Battle of Midway won the Dirt Mile (G1), and Mendelssohn won the Juvenile Turf (G1). Get the results, charts, and photos for all 8 stakes on the card. More photos: Juvenile Turf -
Juvenile Fillies Turf - Dirt Mile - Distaff

The Breeders' Cup Championship Day - The official page for the Breeders' Cup championship races. Just about anything you need to know about it: results, video clips, and race calls for past years, and eventually nominations, entries, and results.

Free Prep Replays - for major prep races in the Breeders' Cup Challenge. The ones with camera logos have video available.

Breeders' Cup Supplemental Entries - The old official policy on supplemental entries plus all the supplemental entries and how they fared, mostly it was a losing proposition. There are no more supplements now, only late nominations making it impossible to track since the change.